By: Zhile Chen

On Friday, Ivan Fedotov, a Russian hockey goalie who played in the Olympics for Russia, has been detained in Russia and leaving the U.S because Russia suspects he is trying to avoid serving in the military.

Fedotov is a 25-year-old hockey goalie born in Finland but raised in Russia. He played in the Winter Olympics this year for Russia and helped Russia earn a silver medal. Last year, he also spent time with CSKA Moscow, which is one of the top clubs in Russia’s premier hockey league, K.H.L. This year, he played on the team and helped them win Gagarin Cup, a championship in the K.H.L.

Fedotov was originally expected to try out for a spot as goalie on the Philadelphia Flyers in a training camp taking place during fall.

Chunk Fletcher, Philadelphia’s president of hockey operations and general manager “Ivan is a player we have followed closely and are very pleased with his development. He’s put a number of strong seasons together in the K.H.L., culminating this year when he captured an Olympic silver medal and a K.H.L. Championship.”

Russian news outlets reported that Fedotov was arrested at a hockey rink in the city St. Petersburg and then forcibly transported to an army enlistment office. The reason Fedotov was forced to become enlisted was because all young men in Russia are required to serve the military for a year and he hadn’t served the military yet. Therefore, he will start serving in the military soon.

In a statement made by Fletcher, he says that the Flyers are “investigating the situation.”

Since there have been many Russian stars in the N.H.L. currently, like Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers, N.H.L. teams have been looking forward to hiring more excellent players from Russia. Right now, people are worried if Russia would detain the players before they can get to their teams.